September 15th 2023.
Mumbai’s Shri Vithoba Temple trust, located in Kalbadevi area, experienced a great loss on Monday after gold and silver jewellery worth Rs13.45 lakh went missing from their locker. Established in 1953, the temple, Vithal Rukmini Mandir has been around for 250 years.
The complaint was filed by Saryu Kapadia, 59, who alleged that the jewellery went missing somewhere between the years 1990-2018. During this period, Manohar Gogte had been the managing trustee of the trust and was responsible for the keys of the coffer, donation box, and bank locker. After Gogte’s death, Jayanth Desai took over as the trust’s president.
In 2018, the Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra sent a letter to Desai requesting an inspection of the locker’s valuable items. Desai then called an emergency meeting, informing the stakeholders of the missing key after Gogte’s death. After further discussion, a duplicate key was made in order to open the locker. However, once it was opened, 8 of the 55 jewellery items were found missing.
Desai wrote a written complaint to the LT Marg police in July of 2018, but it wasn’t converted into an FIR until Monday afternoon. The FIR was registered against an unknown person for the charges of section 406 of the Indian Penal Code. A senior police official stated that they will be investigating the records and papers from 1990 to 2018 to check for any inconsistencies and that summons may be issued to the trustees for interrogation. Arrests will be made if needed.
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